Advance Review: Vampires And Fast Cars Dominate A Thin `Blood Stained Teeth’ #3

You would think that the unique combination of vampires and street racing would be enough to carry a story. It turns out, though, that the mashup isn’t quite compelling enough.

OG vampire Atticus Sloane is on a mission to kill all the people he’s turned into vampires (Sips) over the course of his long undead life. Sloane is a pure capitalist. He doesn’t turn these Sips because of his unending thirst for blood, rather it’s for money. Now the other vamps like him have ordered him to kill all his Sips in a month, or he’ll be targeted next.

This issue focuses on street racer Danny Park, who caused horrific car crashes so he can lure would-be victims to help him out. It never ends well for them.

Christian Ward’s script is entertaining but a bit on the thin side. After setting up Sloane’s motivation for killing those Sips he previously “saved,” each issue deals with the anti-hero targeting a single person. As long as those being targeted are interesting, it makes for a good installment. But it’s difficult to create a compelling character, develop some drama, then kill him or her single issue. And Ward’s scripts suffer a bit for it.

The good news for artist Patric Reynolds is that this story gives him the opportunity to show off his talent by drawing muscle cars. Reynolds’ work on the series has been very strong and helps to make up for the sometimes-thin scripts. A special shout-out to colorist Heather Moore, whose palate brings the entire story to life – or in this case to undead life.

Ward gives us something new in this issue – a coda that indicates a new plot thread different from what’s become a “target of the month.” Hopefully that will shake up the rut the series has fallen into and give the story some fresh…blood.

Blood Stained Teeth #3 will be available for purchase on June 22, 2022.